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THE PARENTS of a teenage boy addicted to the 'legal high' mephedrone have warned others not to be "blinkered" about the drug.

Their call for a ban on the drug has been backed by local MPs and the drug, nicknamed 'bounce', 'bubble' and 'meow meow' is now being examined by the drugs body which advises the Government.

In yesterday's Herald, the teenager described how he became addicted to 'bubble'.

His parents, Ian and Katy their names changed to protect their identity, spoke of their son's addiction and how they have coped.

Ian said: "Pete was brave and told us everything. We'd noticed lots of things changing about him. We went to see the doctor initially, but he couldn't prescribe anything for him at night. Pete had become nocturnal, and wasn't sleeping.

"We had to Google it to find out about it. The more we heard the more scary it was."

They both became dismayed at his usage, initially forcing him from the family home, but taking him back after they learned he had turned from user to courier to dealer.

Ian said: "He was a mess, really ill. We took him back and tried to get him to come off it, but the withdrawal was bad.

"One time we had five hours of screaming, writhing around the floor, frothing at the mouth, fitting. The only way we could get him to calm down was to promise to give him money to go and get some tomorrow.

"He went 12 days and nights without, but it was hurting him. The doctors couldn't give us anything so he had to go cold turkey on his own."
Pete had also suffered burns from the drug to his tongue, gums, nose and throat.

In one example of general lack of knowledge about mephedrone, Katy recounted a conversation she had with a police officer.

She said: "The officer admitted he had stopped a bunch of kids who were buying Baby Bio and drinking it. They'd heard mephedrone was a plant fertiliser so thought it would have the same effect.

"Pete has been honest with people, asking them for help, but there's nothing out there to support them [mephedrone addicts]."

"Parents can't be blinkered. They can't be arrogant and say 'oh my son would never do this'. People have got to wake up, because it's everywhere."

Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon, said he sits on the Home Affairs select committee, which had recently looked at mephedrone.

He said: "This has been mentioned by experts, that it is a drug which needs to be classified or regulated. I hope the Government listen to the body that advises them. I would hope they make a sensible decision.
"I think it's time the Government opposed it and urgently."

Alison Seabeck, MP for Devonport, agreed with Mr Streeter, saying: "This has become a serious issue on the streets of Plymouth. I will write to the Home Secretary to look at this urgently. I would wholeheartedly support the move to ban this drug."

Earlier this month, Home Secretary Alan Johnson signalled "legal highs" could be banned in the near future.

A report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) is expected to be handed to the Government in early March, and a decision made afterwards.

In a response to questions, Mr Johnson said the matter was "an absolute priority" for the council.

He said the possible ban would cover not just mephedrone, "but the whole generic group, so we will not be fooled by the manufacturers shifting around."

A spokesman for Harbour said there was a noticeable increase in referrals for under 18s using mephedrone.

They said: "We are aware there are people experiencing significant difficulties with drug use of this kind. As with all drugs this can have a serious impact on the quality of family life. Access to the right information is available for parents and carers to help them decide how best to respond. One of the protective factors for young people that will give them the best chance of a good outcome is to maintain good links with their families and carers. We will work with the individual who are using any drug to provide a treatment plan to address their specific needs'.

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Mephedroneaddiction is a very real thing that can be a serious problem for some people, especially youngsters. Problem with printing exaggerated stories like this is that it devalues and ridicules the truth.

From what i have found by the experiences of people who are not me or any of my friends the withdrawal lasts 5 days, the third and fourth are the hardest, its mostly psychological with only minor physical symptoms, mostly related to tiredness/weakness. After the fifth day everyone says they feel normal. Its still easy to get back into it but not like this woman describes.

Could it be her son was playing it up to try to get money/attention/sympathy? If the press were to print more honest unbiased stories, parents might have a better understanding of how to deal with their children's withdrawal.

Ian said: "He was a mess, really ill. We took him back and tried to get him to come off it, but the withdrawal was bad.

"One time we had five hours of screaming, writhing around the floor, frothing at the mouth, fitting. The only way we could get him to calm down was to promise to give him money to go and get some tomorrow.

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There is a huge difference between withdrawal and a child throwing a tantrum.

To be honest the thing that makes me suspect this story has been exaggerated by the parents was the mention of seizures. All doctors will give medication if a person is having seizures. They're not untreatable, and refusal to medicate could be viewed as totally irresponsible. The damage that seizures can cause can have life threatening effects. So not medicating, if it's actually true (which I doubt) could be seen as punitive.

So I wonder if the parents are embellishing this story to further their own agenda? I am aware that mephedrone is very addictive and that people are having huge problems with it, but these sorts of stories don't help. People will always want to experiment with substances, expand their consciousness, so make it as safe as possible for them to do this. Burying your head in the sand and denying there is a need for this info is extremely irresponsible.

In fact in light of this knowledge, you could say that by allowing misinformation to be spread by parents and the media, they're being negligent. I do think the sellers of these legal highs need to be more pro-active as far as harm reduction is concerned. If they did this it would show the public that there is such a thing as responsible drug use. The public need to be made aware that "legal high" does not mean totally safe.

Swim is beginning to suspect all this reporting on legal highs, particularly mephedrone, is probably due to cases of these supposed 'addicts' passing off a more serious drug habit as 'mephedroneaddiction'. Swim, a couple years ago, occasionally would pass being high on marijuana off as being high on spice and the like, or as a side effect of 'taking allergy medication' such as benadryl to avoid trouble, since the effects of marijuana resemble the effects of spice and antihistamines similarly enough to be believable.

With parents probably having very little if any experience with these 'legal highs' or their effects, one could easily pass off an addiction to methamphetamine, crack, and even perhaps smack if such parents were quite ridiculously ignorant to the effects of drugs... Although swim notices that gross ignorance, as far as drugs, is not all that uncommon among parents. Swim would assume that the reports of serious addiction to mephedrone do not number greater than 10,000 (swim is being very liberal with this number) which could possibly account for the number of people who statistically may pass of another drug as mephedrone along with also having ignorant parents.

Possible scenario?: Little billy's parents have noticed he has been acting a little weird recently and have also noticed it seems to be getting worse as time goes by... They figure at first that little billy may just be having a stressful time at school or something. As time progresses they notice little billy's personality changes have been getting worse, and one day they decide to ask him all the silly parent questions like, hey son are you okay? You seem to have been acting quite oddly within the past couple of weeks... Is school going alright? Are your peers treating you well? Have you been getting enough sleep? Have you been eating properly? Have you been using drugs or alcohol?...
...Of course little billy, in order to cover up his problem, admits to being stressed out at school, that he hasn't been sleeping as well as he normally does, and probably hasn't been eating as well as he should be. Billy's parents, still suspicious, begin to more closely pay attention to him, and begin searching through his belongings whenever billy leaves. One day they discover a baggie of white powder underneath some clothes in his dresser. When billy arrives at home, he is faced with the stern looks from his parents, and questions such as, What the hell is this I found in your dresser? Are these drugs? Are you keeping illegal items under our roof? etc... Little billy then confesses that the contents of the baggie are infact drugs... however in effort to set his parent's minds at ease, he quickly adds, 'but its nothing serious, this stuff is called mephedrone, its sold legally in the local smart shop. Its not dangerous, I just mix a little in with a glass of water and drink it, and shortly after it improves my ability to concentrate on my homework. This is not what is causing my attitude to sour, its just that I am way too stressed about school at the moment.' Hearing the words legal, and concentrate on studying, coupled with the parents normal behavior of wanting to be able to trust their kids, cause them to relax... and little billy gets to continue his habit nearly unhindered... Until one day, his parents decide his behavior is so horrible that it must be an effect of whatever this powder is he is taking. Once again they confront him (being quite ignorant about the effects of drugs) and ask him to demonstrate how he takes said substance. Little billy hesitates for a moment and pulls another baggy out of his pocket, grabs a glass of water, removes a spoonful of the powdery substance from the bag, and stirs it into his drink... He then consumes this drink, and sure enough about half an hour later, billy's personality completely changes. The parents' fears are completely realized, billy is into drugs... even if legal... they immediately punish him, and promptly make sure billy cannot get ahold of anymore of this 'mephedrone crap'. A couple days later they notice that billy hasn't emerged from his bedroom in quite awhile, and check up on him. Upon entry they note that billy is shaking to a noticeable extent, and when confronted, billy behaves in a highly erratic, agitated, and maniacal fashion. The parents of course make a fuss to the local authorities, possibly even submitting their story to a local news agency, which promptly covers the story (using the word mephedrone...) In actuality, little billy was not infact using mephedrone as he told his parents... but was actually using methamphetamine and had become addicted...

Does anyone besides swim see how a story such as this could be quite a good possibility explaining at least a percentage of the reported cases of 'mephedroneaddiction', especially coupled with the absolute horror stories many swimmers have heard so much about?

cases of 'mephedroneaddiction', especially coupled with the absolute horror stories many swimmers have heard so much about?

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Swim can verify that this is not the case at all. Swim can say that without an doubt mephedrone is as bad as children being on any illigal drug . It is not to be underestimated by anyone. In swims opinion. Even in the USA it would probably not be the case (there is not much of a methamphetine problem here for this to be remotly viabile anyway in the current situation)

Have just spent the night in hospital with swims son who has been using mephedrone for the last few months. He was screaming because every time he tried to go to sleep he would get a panic attack and his heart would race. He thought he was dying and made me take him to hospital. We spent all night there and it kept happening. The doctors say the problem was likely to have been caused by the mephedrone. They gave him valium but it didn't help. He told swim his friend who is also a frequent mephedrone user had recently experienced something similar. He has now been awake for 24 hours and every time he shuts his eyes the heart palpitations start.

He tells me that he has been taking this drug regularly - this week alone he has taken about 5gs. He has found it highly addictive - and has been able to go back for more time and time again because it's so cheap.

Swim is not some scaremongering parent who doesn't know what they're talking about. Swim has been around a lot of different drugs in my time. But he would advise anyone taking this drug to be careful because - as the doctors told us - mephedrone has been on the market for such a short time no one knows the long-term effects on your health.

daisystar, thanks for your perspective on the matter. However it mandatory on the forum not to speak in the first person or incriminate oneself. There is a good thread on the topic here:About the use of SWIM and alternatives

I hate how the press always make it out to be so much more worse than it really is i mean think of the bigger picture not just with this but all drugs the vast majority have a bit of self control and can enjoy their substance of choice on weekends and special occasions and all it takes is for a couple people to give it a bad name.

I hate how the press always make it out to be so much more worse than it really is i mean think of the bigger picture not just with this but all drugs the vast majority have a bit of self control and can enjoy their substance of choice on weekends and special occasions and all it takes is for a couple people to give it a bad name.

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agreed but swims guess it would be the minority who have full control over mephedrone its the nature of the the beast ( a moreish bastard )
getting worse with prolonged useswim has found it easier to put a crack pipe down :/

Its the same logic as someone who is 'addicted to pot'...Swim's experience tells him if something is convenient (and legal) it will be chased to a greater extent than what isn't.

Its just that drug newbies tend to want to stick with 'whats legal' and develop actual addictions.

Swim feels its STILL a lack of education about drugs that leads to situations such as this... for example, if marijuana were legal, how many people do you think would go to the store to buy meph? Swim thinks only those who would go and say, buy meth, when pot is healthier, I.E. that person prefers meth to the safer 'alternative'. Some would still prefer mephedrone, but swim feels correct when he says A VAST MAJORITY would go to buy pot instead if legal.

Mephedrone is FAR too convenient to obtain. It works quite well, the store is only a few blocks away, versus on 'the OTHER side of town'. If pot were just as convenient, well swim thinks at least 75% of people would choose the safer alternative. Nobody wants to die to get high... Marijuana, in swims opinion, is strong enough on its own to rival meth and heroin as far as 'how high one gets.' Everyone likes a different kind of high, but when forced to choose, most usually choose 'safe' over 'sorry'.

In swim's case, anything he PREFERS to do is prescribed. In the doses he gets he is happy, but sometimes he likes to get high... Stimulants are swim's favorite. Swim wont do say... METH... because he realizes it is incredibly available in his area, and would probably develop a nasty habit, which would end up killing him. His choice, ADHD causes drug seeking behavior they say? Swim is ADHD, he went to get good pills to carry him through the day (normally spent stoned) until he can actually afford to smoke weed (much less risk).

And if swim has to go without pot, whatever. His medication makes him happy enough on its own to not require a high dose, or anything else for that matter.

Swim feels most people need medication, otherwise they wouldn't use drugs. They just need to go about it in a healthier manner (if afraid of doctors), or see a doctor and get what would actually help them function without 'whatever f*cks them up.'